NEXT TO GATE 4 OF GUARANTEED RATE FIELD, HOME OF THE WHITE SOX, IS A BRONZE bust of the late governor James R. “Big Jim” Thompson. It’s an homage to the wily politician who in 1988 forged a government-backed financing deal — over significant political opposition — to bankroll construction of that stadium and stop the franchise from bolting to Florida. “He kept the White Sox in Chicago,” reads the bust’s inscription.
These days, the White Sox may want to stay in Chicago but not necessarily in their 33-year-old publicly supported stadium, where a team-friendly lease — another byproduct of Thompson’s dealmaking — expires in five years. As we know,
